Itinerary · 8 days · 37 places
8 Days in Jordan
Eight days right across Jordan: Amman and the colonnades of Jerash to settle in, a day of floating and mud at the Dead Sea, a day and a half in Petra from the Siq to the Monastery, a night under the stars in Wadi Rum and finally the Red Sea at Aqaba.
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Photo: Mert Çelik · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Amman & Citadel Hill
Arrival in Amman
Hotel check-in
Base yourself in Jabal Amman around the First Circle, the district of old stone villas, from where Rainbow Street and downtown are within walking distance.
Amman Citadel
On Jabal al-Qal'a stand the three columns of the Temple of Hercules, the Umayyad palace with its rebuilt dome and a viewpoint over the entire sea of houses downtown.
Evening: Rainbow Street
The street above downtown fills after sunset with cafés, ice-cream parlours and a lookout over the illuminated hills.
Day 2Amman: downtown, museums & Weibdeh
Roman Theatre
Cut into the hillside, the semicircle held 6,000 spectators; in its two side vaults, two small museums display Bedouin jewellery and traditional costume.
Jordan Museum
Here you'll find the 9,000-year-old plaster figures of Ain Ghazal and the Copper Scroll from Qumran, the only one of the Dead Sea Scrolls made of metal.
King Hussein Mosque and bazaar lanes
Around the mosque in the centre, spice traders, the gold souk and the juice and nut stalls of al-Hashemi Street crowd together.
Darat al Funun
Three 1920s villas on the slope of Jabal al-Weibdeh show contemporary Arab art, and the foundations of a Byzantine church lie in the garden.
Paris Square in Jabal al-Weibdeh
The small roundabout is the meeting point of the artists' quarter, surrounded by book cafés, bakeries and studios in the old houses.
Evening: Jabal al-Weibdeh by night
The stepped lanes between Paris Square and the Luweibdeh slope are lit up in the evening, and in the cafés people play cards and smoke shisha until late.
Day 3Jerash & Ajloun Castle
Onward to Jerash
Hotel check-in
Hadrian's Arch and Hippodrome
The triple arch was built in 129 for Emperor Hadrian's visit; behind it lies the racetrack, where the stone starting gates can still be made out.
Oval Plaza and Cardo Maximus
The oval plaza, ringed by 56 Ionic columns, leads into the 800-metre colonnaded street whose paving still bears the ruts of chariot wheels.
Temple of Artemis and North Theatre
The eleven remaining columns of the city temple noticeably sway in the wind; next door lies the smaller North Theatre, with the names of the civic tribes carved into the rows of seats.
Ajloun Castle (Qal'at ar-Rabad)
Built in 1184 by a nephew of Saladin, the fortress guarded the region's iron mines; on clear days the view from the roofs reaches the Jordan Valley.
Evening: streets of modern Jerash
East of the excavations, coffee roasters, falafel stands and sweet shops selling knafeh line the main street and stay open until late.
Day 4Dead Sea: floating, mud & panorama
Onward to the Dead Sea
Hotel check-in
Amman Tourist Beach on the Dead Sea
The public beach near Sweimeh has mud pools, freshwater showers and loungers — in the water, the salt content of around 34 per cent keeps everyone afloat effortlessly.
Hammamat Ma'in hot springs
In a gorge, 60-degree thermal waterfalls tumble over black rock; you can bathe in the pool below while steam rises above.
Dead Sea Panoramic Complex
From the terrace 250 metres above the water you can see the entire northern bay as far as the mountains of the West Bank, plus a small museum on the geology of the rift.
Evening: Sweimeh waterfront
After sunset the shore falls quiet, the salt crusts glitter in the light of the hotel terraces and the lights of Jericho shine across the water.
Day 5Along the King's Highway to Petra
Onward to Petra
Hotel check-in
Little Petra (Siq al-Barid)
The narrow gorge holds Nabataean façades and a dining hall with the only surviving painted Nabataean ceiling fresco — free entry and rarely crowded.
Beidha Neolithic village
A few hundred metres further on lie the round houses of a 9,000-year-old village, one of the oldest permanent settlements in the Middle East.
Visitor centre and Petra Museum
Using finds from the excavations, the museum at the entrance explains how a caravan station became the capital of a trading empire.
Evening: Petra by Night
The Siq and the square in front of the Treasury are lit by 1,500 candles in paper bags, while Bedouins play the rababa and flute.
Day 6Petra from the Siq to the Monastery
The Siq
This 1.2 km rocky cleft is only three metres wide in places; remains of the Nabataean water channel and niches with god-blocks run along its walls.
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh
The 40-metre tomb façade carved from the pink rock stands at the end of the Siq and glows most intensely in the morning.
Street of Façades and Theatre
Four rows of tomb façades in the older cube style lead to the theatre, which the Nabataeans cut right through existing tombs to seat 7,000 spectators.
Royal Tombs
The Urn Tomb, Silk Tomb, Corinthian Tomb and Palace Tomb lie side by side in the eastern cliff; in the Urn Tomb an inscription records its conversion into a church in 447.
Colonnaded Street and Qasr al-Bint
At the end of the Roman colonnaded street stands Petra's only free-standing temple, its walls preserved to a height of twenty metres.
Ad-Deir (The Monastery)
More than 800 rock-cut steps lead up to Petra's largest façade; opposite is a terrace with views over Wadi Araba.
Evening: Cave Bar at the Petra Guest House
The oldest bar in the world sits in a 1st-century Nabataean rock tomb right next to the park gate.
Day 7Wadi Rum: sandstone, dune & starry sky
Onward to Wadi Rum
Hotel check-in
Lawrence's Spring
From the slope above the fig trees of the spring described by T. E. Lawrence, you look out over the plain with the tents of Rum village.
Khazali Canyon
In this narrow cleft in Jebel Khazali, Thamudic rock drawings of feet, camels and people from two thousand years are layered on top of one another.
Umm Fruth rock bridge
You can climb this free-standing stone arch without equipment; from the top you see the red sand plains stretching to the horizon.
Red sand dune at Jebel Umm Ulaydiyya
The high dune leans against the mountainside; climbing up barefoot takes ten minutes, and you run back down through the soft sand.
Sunset at Jebel Umm Ishrin
From the rocky ledge opposite the mountain range, the sandstone turns from orange to red to violet in the last hour of light.
Evening: starry sky above the Bedouin camp
With no light pollution the Milky Way stands above the tents; the Bedouins keep tea and rababa music going by the fire until it turns cool.
Day 8Red Sea at Aqaba & flight home
Onward to Aqaba
Hotel check-in
Ayla — the early Islamic port city
On the north shore lie the foundations of the city founded in 650, with its city gate, main street and mosque, right between today's hotel resorts.
Aqaba Mamluk Fort
The 16th-century fortress bears the Hashemite coat of arms above its gate; next door stands the flagpole of the 1917 Arab Revolt.
Coral reef at South Beach
At the Japanese Garden the reef begins just a few metres from the shore; with a mask you can see lionfish and soft corals without a boat.
Departure from Aqaba
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